OLE Instructions

This project is designed to be delivered over a 5 session period. During that week, there will be three 30 minute, one 20 minute and one 15 minute class sessions dedicated to in-class instruction and modeling. Additionally, students will work independently during two 30 minute, one 40 minute and one 45 minute class sessions dedicated for students to work independently to complete self-paced learning activities in the OLE. Students may use time outside of class to complete their work in the OLE.

Session 1 - Induction

FACE-TO-FACE - 30 minutes
During session 1, students will meet with the teacher during a face-to-face whole group instruction setting to become familiar Important Words and terms that they will be using as they engage in the OLE. The teacher can use the IMPORTANT WORDS PowerPoint presentation to model and explain terms such as click, link, scroll, edit and save. These are terms that will be repeatedly used as the students engage in researching, reporting and analyzing in the OLE. To provide additional support for struggling learners, Ustream.tv can be used to live stream and record the teacher presentation. The resulting video can then be embedded into the OLE for students to review and for parents to review with their children.


Session 2 - Researching

FACE-TO-FACE - 30 minutes
During session 2, students will meet for a portion of the time with the teacher during a face-to-face whole group instruction setting so that the teacher can model the research process. The researching “e-tivity” will be structured like a “traditional” activity, so that students have some familiarity with the task. In this case, students complete a graphic organizer, draft, edit & revise before publishing their work on the wiki. During the face-to-face instruction, the teacher introduces content, gives explicit directions, share expectations, models and foreshadows potential problems. Once this is complete, the teacher and students can practice collecting research together using a common president, like George Washington. For additional flexibility, the Presidential Biography Recording Sheet has been created as a Microsoft Word template, so that students can fill out each field electronically and save their document. If the teacher prefers, the Recording Sheet can be printed and completed by hand.



ONLINE - 30 minutes
Once the process has been modeled and questions answered, then the students will have the rest of the session time to conduct their research using a computer station in the school lab. The teacher will need to assign or allow students to select a president to research. Teachers can use the Presidents Labels document as an easy way to distribute the name of a president to each child. Because of the flexibility of the OLE, additional time to complete the research can be made after school or at home. Self-assessment items have been created using the school website content management system and included on the I Can Statements wiki page for students to use to check their own understanding.



Session 3 - Reporting

FACE-TO-FACE - 30 minutes
During session 3, students will meet for a portion of the time with the teacher during a face-to-face whole group instruction setting so that the teacher can model the reporting process. Reporting will entail each student editing the wiki. The teacher will begin by modeling how to create a president page from a template and edit the president page to include all the important information that is required.

ONLINE - 30 minutes
The reporting “e-tivity” will be completed individually in the school computer lab or outside of school hours, at home, the public library or before or after the regular school day. To provide additional support for struggling learners, Jing will be used to create a screencast of the wiki editing process. This screencast will be embedded into the OLE for students to review and for parents to review with their children. Self-assessment items have been created using the school website content management system and included on the I Can Statements wiki page for students to use to check their own understanding.


Session 4 - Reporting

FACE-TO-FACE - 20 minutes
During session 4, students will meet for a portion of the time with the teacher during a face-to-face whole group instruction setting so that the teacher can model the reporting process. Reporting will entail each student editing the wiki. In this session, the teacher model how to edit the Transportation and Communication timeline pages. Students will add image(s) and text to the timeline to describe the method of transportation and communication their respective president used while in office.

ONLINE - 40 minutes
The reporting “e-tivity” will be completed individually using classroom computers or outside of school hours, at home, the public library or before or after the regular school day. To provide additional support for struggling learners, Jing will be used to create a screencast of the wiki editing process. This screencast will be embedded into the OLE for students to review and for parents to review with their children. Because each student will need to edit and update the same 2 wiki pages, this individual work will take place during "center time" in the regular classroom. Students will be rotated between multiple stations, giving each child time to work on their own piece of the Transportation and Communication timeline pages. Because these single pages will need to be edited by multiple students, it is important that they are accessed by only one student at a time. This step wil prevent students from over-writing other student information before they can save their work. Self-assessment items have been created using the school website content management system and included on the I Can Statements wiki page for students to use to check their own understanding.


Session 5 - Analyzing

FACE-TO-FACE - 15 minutes
During session 5, students will meet for a portion of the time with the teacher during a face-to-face whole group instruction setting so that the teacher can model the analyzing process. Analyzing will entail each student using the DISCUSSION tab on The Mall wiki page. In this session, the teacher model how to reply to the teacher-posed discussion questions. Students will add their responses to the discussion to demonstrate their understanding of the research data they collected and reported on during earlier sessions.

ONLINE - 45 minutes
The analyzing “e-tivity” will be completed individually in the school computer lab or outside of school hours, at home, the public library or before or after the regular school day. To provide additional support for struggling learners, Jing will be used to create a screencast of the wiki discussion process. This screencast will be embedded into the OLE for students to review and for parents to review with their children. Self-assessment items have been created using the school website content management system and included on the I Can Statements wiki page for students to use to check their own understanding.